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For reasons that are completely tangential to this story, we recently had a pristine 1997 Acura NSX (yes, red) in our garage, and it sparked a conversation among us about Honda‘s increasingly erratic direction since that car. What modern Honda, we puzzled, has the old NSX’s clarity of vision and sheer technical sparkle? After a moment, I said, “The Fit.” And following a minute of furrowed brows, we agreed that, indeed, it is the best example.

So it isn’t surprising that the Fit’s EV version would be another flash of that masterful engineering. Walking into its technical presentation, I was expecting to find a Fit simply disemboweled of its combustion organs and crammed with batteries. Well, it is crammed with batteries. But it’s also Honda in rare form, reengineering the car so thoroughly it’s clear the automaker is thinking — at least technologically — beyond the legal necessities of California’s looming zero-emissions mandate (1100 Fit EVs will be leased at an equivalent price of $36,625 to the usual-suspect markets — Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Portland, and later, a few big East Coast cities). Before driving it, though, let’s take a tour and consider what Honda’s actually done here.

Right at the car’s face is a smiling visual riff on Honda’s remarkable hydrogen-fueled electric FCX Clarity. Appropriate, because smack behind it is a detuned iteration of the Clarity’s very same electric motor, here offering 123 hp and 189 lb-ft of torque. It’s an unusual piece, as one of the halfshafts sprouting from the single-speed reduction gearset passes right back through the motor’s (hollow) centerline on its way to the far-side wheel. A curiosity in the Clarity; a meaningful space-saver in the much smaller Fit.

Just ahead of the driver’s door is the Levels 1 & 2 charging receptacle, backed by a 6.6 kW on-board charger — that’s twice the power the current Nissan Leaf can accept. Recharge time and driving range? Three hours and 82 miles.

Fashioned into a slab beneath the Fit’s floor, the battery avoids impinging on interior room because the entire chassis has been elevated by 1.6 inches (reminiscent of the 1997 EV Plus, if you recall). To keep its underwear from showing, there are added rocker panels plus plastic eyebrows above the wheelwells. It looks better than it sounds.

The battery pack extends sternward enough that the twist-beam rear suspension had to be replaced by a more compact multilink affair. And while the Fit’s battery size nixes the wonderfully reconfigurable “magic seat,” the designers made lemonade out of it by redesigning and repositioning the second row 3.3 inches rearward and reclining it an additional 4 degrees. It’s way more comfortable.

The Fit has always had knife-sharp handling. Now, with an even lower cg (battery placement) coupled to an electric drivetrain, and the immediacy of EV “throttle” response, it’s an absolute hoot. And here’s an interesting detail: What your foot generally feels when it presses the Fit EV’s brake pedal is actually a simulation of stopping feel. Yes, a simulation. During anything short of emergency braking (when valves open for old-fashioned friction stopping), the Fit EV attempts to halt itself by pure regenerative resistance from the traction motor. This really is computer-orchestrated brake by wire, eliminating the slight bit of friction drag that current EVs (Leaf) suffer during what we think of as “pure” regen braking.

A month after Honda unveiled its Fit EV, Toyota raised the curtain on its battery-powered RAV4, and the two cars make for nice comparison. As with the Fit, the RAV’s battery is a monolithic slab beneath the floorpan, but, because of the Toyota‘s ueber-ample inherent ground clearance, its chassis doesn’t need any messy elevating (enough of a gap remains to even keep its “truck” classification). Also Fit EV-like are the RAV EV’s extravagant aero enhancements, the biggest being its extended aero-fairing encasement of the rear window to keep the air attached a tad longer. (Toyota quotes a considerable drag coefficient reduction from 0.35 to a car-like 0.30.) Speaking of aero, an amusing item is its slipperier-than-standard side mirrors sourced from the Korean-market Camry.

The Fit and RAV4 EV’s great-minds-think-alike comparability continues with their repurposed motors; in the RAV4’s case, it’s the Tesla Model S’ mighty unit, “detuned” to a mere 154 hp (down from 362). Er, did you say Tesla? Yes.

After some awkwardness in deciding who was actually going to lead this unlikely dance, the result reflects both Toyota’s expertise in creating deeply competent vehicles and a delectable sampling of Tesla’s signature EV technologies. (When problems arose that required a show-and-tell moment of sensitive information, they debated in a room without any means of note-taking.)

Tesla’s biggest fingerprints on the car are its range and recharging rate. And let me offer a bit of perspective here. The Leaf’s typical range and recharge time is 73 miles and 7 hours via its 3.3-kW charger. For the Ford Focus EV, the numbers are 76 miles and about 3.5 hours with its faster 6.6-kW charger. As mentioned, the Fit EV goes 82 miles on a 3-hour charge (same charging rate as the Ford), but the RAV4 can easily pass 100 miles, its 10-kW charger requiring 6 hours. That charge time reflects the RAV’s relatively giant battery size, which, at 41.8 kW-hrs of usable capacity, is actually larger than that of the base Model S. EPA-certified numbers aren’t available yet, but with the battery driven to its normal depth of discharge (35 kW-hrs), range should be 92 miles. Get greedy, and its extended range mode will take you to 113 miles, but judging from my drive, even a lot more than that looks easily possible if you’re careful. And, wow, are those extra miles profound, psychologically.

The battery’s size is not lost on the RAV4 EV’s price: $50,610 for a fully loaded version such as this one. Cross out $7500 for the federal tax credit (and, in the case of California, an additional $2500), and you’re looking at $40,610. Good thing, then, that Toyota is aiming at selling just 2600 of these things. But, I’d also add that what you’re seeing is the very evolution of the electric car right before our eyes.

Which is our pick? Although the Fit — unsurprisingly — is the bigger hoot to drive, of the electric vehicle’s three critical pinch points, the RAV4 betters the Fit in range and recharge time. And at a price premium (the third point) that could be viewed as a bargain, it’s the cheapest way you can get what’s essentially the base Model S’ drivetrain.

Cargo (Std/Max)

Seating

2012 Toyota RAV4 News and Reviews

When the new 2013 Toyota RAV4 reaches showrooms this January it will only be offered with a 176-hp 2.5-liter four-cylinder mated to a six-speed automatic. A new report suggests Toyota could add a RAV4 hybrid option in the future.RAV4 deputy chief engineer Yoshikazu Saeki told Auto Express that a hybrid variant is definitely a possibility, especially if the market demands…

The 2013 Toyota RAV4 is one of the most significant vehicles the automaker will release next year and we just got our first glimpse of the new crossover at the 2012 L.A. Auto Show. Bill Fay, Toyota's Vice President and General Manager, barked off a few interesting stats during the press conference. Since the first-gen model was introduced to the…

Not content to let Ford or Honda steal its compact crossover thunder with the new 2013 Escape and 2012 CR-V, Toyota has announced that the next-generation 2013 Toyota RAV4 will debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show later this month, and released a short teaser of the new RAV4.As hinted by the RAV4s we've spotted testing and confirmed by Toyota's…

Honda Fit EVFor reasons that are completely tangential to this story, we recently had a pristine 1997 Acura NSX (yes, red) in our garage, and it sparked a conversation among us about Honda's increasingly erratic direction since that car. What modern Honda, we puzzled, has the old NSX's clarity of vision and sheer technical sparkle? After a moment, I said,…

As the Toyota RAV4 EV's on-sale date approaches, the Japanese automaker has announced the electric SUV's official EPA ratings. The 2012 Toyota RAV4 EV will be EPA-rated at 78/74 MPGe city/highway, or 76 mpg-e combined. The electrified SUV, which has an EPA-rated range of 103 miles, will start rolling into select California dealers on September 24 and will be offered…